Did you know those anti-theft tags have ink in them?

[Rain Man]

I didn't. Am I the only one?

I bought a pair of running shoes last week - white, with silver and chartreuse stripes. Very nice.

I brought them home, and they sat in the closet for a week before I pulled them out to go for a jog. I removed the right one from the box, put it on, and then removed the left one out of the box. To my dismay, I discovered that it still had the anti-theft tag on it.

What a pain in the neck. I didn't want to drive all the way down to the shoe store, and on top of that, I didn't know where the receipt was. it didn't seem like a good idea to walk to a counter with a pair of shoes and no receipt and say, "Hey, these are mine. Would you please remove the anti-theft tag so I can take them?"

So I figured, hey, they're just plastic. I'm a tool-using hominid. If a pierced and tattooed teenage girl can figure out how to remove them, I can figure out how to bust it off.

I messed with it a little bit, and then decided to take it down to the basement where I keep my tool box. I was still wearing the right shoe, so I walked down the stairs, (pad) Clomp (pad) Clomp (pad) Clomp, and set the shoe on the clothes dryer. I got a couple of screwdrivers out of the tool box, found a little uneven spot in the seal of the tag, and started wedging.

The wedging went slow but well. I was able to slowly pull the two halves apart, and thought I was making good progress, when - BLORT - I busted an ink container inside it.

I look like a failed bank robber now. It's all over my hands, I've got a few drops on my face I can't get off, the brand new left shoe is stained all over, and it even dried on top of the clothes dryer and I can't get it off.

This is why I hate criminals. Criminals did this to me. In the old days, I would just go in, buy my shoes, and know that I could just lace them up and jog. Now I have to have a machine shop to get this thing off, and when I do, it ruins the shoe. We need bigger prisons in this country so that honest citizens don't get their shoes ruined by criminals.

[DaFace]

I knew, but only because I've seen them with big warning labels on the outside of them that say "Don't remove this thing or it'll get ink all over your shoe!" or something like that.

You think they'll take your ink-stained shoe back?

[Skip Towne]

You should have put this story in Phobia's Cash thread and won some money.

[Deberg_1990]

all i can think of to say is:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!

[Rain Man]

They have labels? Maybe the pierced and tattoeed girl took off the label.

I got the shoes on the clearance rack, so I figure I'm screwed on getting a replacement. I guess I'll just use them for jogging, but it's annoying.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Skip Towne

You should have put this story in Phobia's Cash thread and won some money.

Ooh. Good idea. Hang on.

[morphius]

I knew this as well, and I have never stole anything. They just followed me home.

[Brock]

[MTG#10]

http://blog.andrewwatters.com/tag/


Guess its too late now though.

[Pic]

[ChiefsFire]

What color was the ink?

Apricot?

[BigVE]

I think your first clue was the fact that they are CALLED "anti-theft ink-tags".

[88TG88]

we need pics

[stlchiefs]

This is God's way for getting back at you for your sloth. You bought new running shoes and let them sit in your closet for over a week before you decided to run? Well now you got inked. Have fun running with a scarlet letter on your shoes.

[Otter]

Actually I didn't know that either.

I bought a pair of jeans once that had a security tag left in the back pocket after I brought them home. It was basically a thick sticker about the size of a large stamp with coils on the inside.

Every time I wore those pants to go the local super market the alarm would buzz on the way out. Eventually I went to stick something in my back pocket and found the culprit but it was defiantly a WTF moment leaving the supermarket for about 2 weeks.